


He Knocked

by aserene



Series: Episode Tags [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Episode Fix-it, F/M, Mentions other characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:33:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27698339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aserene/pseuds/aserene
Summary: During Tribes, (S5 E11), Gibbs knocks on the door to the Director's office. Why?
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jenny Shepard
Series: Episode Tags [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2084496
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	He Knocked

**Author's Note:**

> Pulled out of the archives, written right after the episode aired in 2008. Gibbs knocking on the door was a big deal, and Jenny's expression caused me to wonder why he would make this out of character move. 
> 
> I made it to Thanksgiving, teaching in-person, during a global pandemic. This is progress.

_ “That’s crap, and we both know it. You can say whatever you want to.” There was a knock on the door. _

_ “Is this a bad time?”  _

_ “Jethro,” the FBI agent greeted. _

_“Hey!” They embraced._ _  
_ _“You two know each other, how nice?”_

Jenny Shepard couldn’t believe the one Leroy Jethro Gibbs knocked, the minute he had she had been so startled she didn’t know what to say when the two men embraced in the middle of her office. She was a tad jealous; she’d admit to that. Jethro had trained this young FBI agent, just he had trained her,  _ but he didn’t make it _ , Jenny thought happily. She could be proud of surviving Gibbs, and she was considering how she had to endure him in a completely different way. Being his boss was probably more difficult than being his partner, but Jenny Shepard always liked a good challenge. 

Jenny opened the always-unlocked front door, trying to figure out whose car could possibly be at the bottom of the driveway. It looked government-issued, but it definitely wasn’t NCIS, so she wasn’t too terribly concerned about entering the house. It wasn’t like he didn’t know she’d be there. She wanted to know the results of the ‘autopsy,’ and she wanted to know why she had to look the other way. Jenny was used to looking the other way with Gibbs,’ but with Ducky, that was a new one. She was glad Gibbs had told her why this was such an issue for the older man, and she regretted putting him in that position; I _ was only trying to do my job.  _

“Catch you later, Boss,” she heard from the basement stairs, but it wasn’t a voice she recognized. She would have simply slipped into another room if it had been DiNozzo or McGee, but this voice was different. She continued on her walk to the basement and was met with the FBI agent from earlier. “Director?” Langry gasped, spotting her.

“Agent Langry,” she returned coolly. 

“Uh…Gibbs is in the basement.”

“I know,” Jenny replied, continuing on her way. She could feel the Agent’s questioning eyes burn into her back before she heard the front door open and close. Jenny came down the basement stairs and watched him for a minute. She knew that he was aware of her; he had that secret smile on his face. 

“Intimidating the FBI, are we?” Gibbs inquired. She laughed. 

“He seems like he would have been difficult to deal with.”

“He always had an attitude problem,” Gibbs informed lightly.  _ I wonder where he got it from;  _ she thought, amused. They fell into a comfortable silence, she sitting watching him work on the boat as she had many nights previous. She didn’t feel ignored like she knew many other women did. The boat building was her uninterrupted time to watch, and she enjoyed the view. 

“You knocked,” Jenny said, finally breaking the silence. Gibbs glanced over at her.

“So, I did.”

“You never knock,” she reminded. 

“Thought I’d see what happened. You’re cute when you’re puzzled,” Gibbs replied. Jenny rolled her eyes, startling her with something un-Gibbs-like had to be his form of amusement. He came over to her, placing the sander down and reclaiming the beer she had swiped. “Very kissable.”

“Oh, really?” She shot back. There was the switch just like his emergency stop in the elevator; it was their switch from Director and Agent to Jenny and Jethro.

“Uh-huh,” he responded, leaning down and kissing her. It was slow and sweet, and she smiled radiantly up at him when he pulled back slightly. “Very kissable.” 

Work was momentarily forgotten after that. He ignored the USB drive that had information crucial to the investigation, and she ignored the fact that she could quite possibly get found out for letting her agents work under the radar. It didn’t matter right then and there.

* * *

There was another knock, this time on her front door. Jenny moved from her study to answer the door; admittedly, she had been getting worried and was glad to hear this knock. The clock in the hall chimed midnight as she pulled open the door to reveal her old partner standing on the other side. 

“Hi,” Gibbs said quietly.

“I was getting worried,” she replied. 

“Work went late,” he explained. Jenny simply nodded and stepped aside, letting him come into the house. She took his coat, hanging it up in the front closet beside his other one. 

“Want to tell me about it over coffee?” She inquired, moving toward the kitchen. Gibbs caught her arm before she could move too far away and pulled her in front of him. She met his eyes and found his lost in thought. “What’s wrong?”

“He was dead.”

“That’s a good thing, Jethro, one less terrorist in the world,” Jenny reminded softly. 

“Ziva knows who killed him,” he told her. This caused her to pause, she didn’t think Ziva would go rouge, but perhaps she’d not considered her instincts.

“Jethro, she didn’t…”

“No, she didn’t. I know who did.”

“They deserve a medal, far as I’m concerned,” she assured. Jenny knew it was wrong; she should read him the riot act for this one as the Director, but she didn’t care; she wasn’t in his arms as Director. She placed her hands on his chest, feeling his heart thump softly beneath them.

“So case closed,” Gibbs responded. She nodded, letting her arms slip around his neck. 

“So, do you want some coffee or not?” She asked again. 

“You made coffee this late?” Jenny didn’t answer, but he could see her half-filled mug on her desk next to the spread-out paperwork.  _ She was trying to stay up. _ “Jen.”

“Hm?”  
“You’re exhausted, come on,” he suggested tugging her hand toward the stairs. She let him pull her toward him again and reached her hands up to cup his face. She studied his eyes before softly kissing his lips. He responded just as softly, relishing in the comfort of having her hold him. Whenever she had a bad day, she’d always curled up next to him, close as she could, and snuggle. When he’d had a bad day, she’d wrap her arms around him and whisper of happier times. Gibbs lived for that now, the tales that he knew no one else got to hear, the stories she thought up randomly, and the way she would simply listen to him ramble on about whatever he could think about. 

They went up the stairs together, her arm around his waist, his around her shoulders. She went to the bathroom first to pull the hair tie out and slip into her comfortable pajamas. He changed while he waited for her and sat on the edge of the bed. She appeared just moments later and curled up next to him, wrapping both arms around his waist and pressing her cheek to his back. 

“Come on, Jethro, I’m not the only one who needs sleep,” she whispered. They lay down together, and she held him close and tried to think of something that would take his mind off of the case. “You know Ziva is reading about films and taking a film course.”

“She was bickering with Tony about some movie or another,” he sighed. 

“She says it’s to pick up American sayings and such,” Jenny told him.

“It’s to annoy DiNozzo, I’m telling you.”

“Well, it’s funny. I was watching them today; she’s learning fast,” Jenny teased, using words he had once spoken to her.

“Guess I’m going to have to watch these movies.”

“I’ll make you a list,” Jenny said, snuggling, her head tucking under his chin. Gibbs wrapped his arm around her, his hand trailing up and down her back. “Do you know why Abby had bubble wrap near her door?”  
“Some warning system,” he replied tiredly. “I told her to get rid of it.”

“You also told her she’s your favorite.” He chuckled softly and felt her sigh. “Which I guess crosses out the FBI agent as a possible favorite.”

“You really didn’t like him.” Jenny huffed, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “He made himself useful.”

“I suppose that’s a plus,” she said with little satisfaction.

“He failed his first autopsy too, and his weapons proficiency exam.”

“I never failed the weapons exam.”  
“Nope,” he agreed. “But the autopsy…”

“Jethro,” she said, kissing his lips softly. 

“Hm?”

“Shut up.” She met his deep blue eyes, and he leaned up to kiss her; sure, when she was puzzled, she was cute, but she was most definitely always kissable. Nothing more was said except whispers of words in ears, and everything else was forgotten. 

##  **END**


End file.
